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With a Secretary of State decision now in place granting the Springwell Solar Farm Development Consent Order, the District Council is keen to further explore with operators EDF how a commitment to provide community benefits of £400 per megawatt of installed capacity will be spent on local projects, and to align with the Council’s adopted Large Scale Solar Energy Community Benefit Policy.
The proposal to install 800MW of generating capacity located at the A15 between Lincoln and Sleaford was considered to be a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) which meant it needed to be determined by the Secretary of State, who has now published his decision.
North Kesteven District Council’s position was to comment on the scheme and its local impact and to raise objections on a number of grounds. In doing so it highlighted the need for there to be a high regard for the community and the impacts on landscape and visual amenity, grid connection arrangements, cultural heritage and archaeology, ecology and biodiversity net gain, battery storage and associated operational safety and ongoing agricultural use.  
These concerns were framed within a broader context of overall high level policy support, given the scope of the area’s Central Lincolnshire Local Plan and its commitment to supporting a transition to a net-zero carbon future through appropriately-located renewable energy generation.
Council Leader Cllr Richard Wright said that this scheme seeks to provide renewable energy to power 180,000 homes over an intended lifespan of 40 years. Whilst the Council has clear ambitions and actions with regards to the changing climate and clean energy provision, our position has always been one of the right schemes in the right place of the right size. In this case, this led to objections being raised.
He said: “Those objections we did raise were mainly in respect of how the scheme impacted on best and most versatile agricultural land, with very nearly half of it taking up land of this classification.
“We would still ask that through careful location of the panels and onsite infrastructure this is kept to a minimum and also to consider battery technologies that have lowest environmental impact and are demonstrably the safest.
“We are also pleased that the Secretary of State has listened and responded to our concerns regarding the timings of works in relation to the proposed new substation at Navenby, and that we have secured significant financial contributions of over £2m towards delivering a skills and education package and biodiversity gains over the 40-year lifetime of development.
“We welcome this final decision on what has already been a long-running project and will now look forward to EDF fulfilling their commitment in relation to community benefits in line with our adopted policy.”
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